Men's Tennis Builds Early Lead and Defeats Bucknell, 5-2

BALTIMORE – The UMBC men's tennis team won its third consecutive match and improved to 5-3 on the season with a 5-2 victory over Bucknell at 40 West Racquet Club on Feb. 28.

The Retrievers captured the doubles point, easily handling the Bison at the Nos. 2 and 3 positions. The No. 3 tandem of junior Kamal Patel (Germantown, Md./Seneca Valley) and sophomore Eliott Loubatie (Paris, France) blanked their BU opponents, 8-0, to open the match and the No. 2 duo of junior Daniel Gray (Bowie, Md./The Bullis School) clinched the doubles point with an 8-2 triumph.

The Retrievers were without the services of sophomore Justin Carter (Randallstown, Md.),who competes at No. 1 singles and doubles. However, the middle of the Retriever singles lineup overpowered the Bison, as Gray, Loubatie and sophomore Melker Svard (Gothenburg, Sweden) only dropped a combined nine games in straight set victories.

Svard shutout Aidan Lynch, 6-0, 6-0, at the No. 2 position and Gray followed with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Kyle Rosen at the No. 4 slot. For the second consecutive match, No. 3 Loubatie clinched the UMBC triumph, as the sophomore defeated Octavio Canibe, 6-3, 6-1.

Patel provided UMBC its fifth point with another straight set victory.

UMBC returns to action when they host Howard in the first match to be held at the UMBC Tennis Complex this season on Sunday, March 2. The action gets underway at 1:00 p.m.